The Metropol in Vienna, Austria, picured below, has to be the most intimate venue the lads played ever since that place in Merrion Row (and if you can't figure that out, you should be ashamed of yourself and buy the band a drink). The Vienna magic happened again in September 2012, when The Dubliners appeared for Seven Drunken Night at the Metropol. And you wouldn't believe it, but we have the review ready. Now what took us that long? Follow the link and you'll find out. This review is big, bold and beautiful, and that's because we have your favorite reporters on board and we have more pictures than ever for a single review.

On 12 September 2012, almost done with their last set in Vienna for 2012, the lads spontaneously invited world-famous blues guitarist and singer Hans Theessink to join them for a song, and he did. They performed "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" (a 1907 song, nowadays famous through Johnny Cash's rendition) together. Our shot, featuring all five Dubs and Hans, was taken during the performance.

Peter Heinz of www.dubliners.at attended the 50 year celebration luncheon at the Marchfelderhof. The Metropol invited, and it took place at the Marchfelderhof near Vienna - and Peter supplies a series of images! Please follow the link to his website!

The ambassadors of the craic, also known as The Dubliners, are back in Vienna. John Sheahan, Sean Cannon, Eamonn Campbell, Patsy Watchorn and Gerry O'Connor play 'Seven Drunken Nights' at the Metropol. The celebrated the tour opening at the Marchfelderhof - see some pictures here.
But most of all, let us share an image of the end of last night that summarizes the atmosphere of those gigs - a standing room only crowd, five very happy men smiling, beaming and waving from the stage. And, yes, don't worry: We have all your favorite reporters and photographers here, so you can expect something mighty on these pages in due time!

Renata from Italy flew up to Ireland to attend the Drogheda gig on 9 June 2012. And we have to thank her that she found the time to send over a bunch of photographs, so I better don't keep you any longer but rather point you to our 2012 gallery!

We are entering a new age of The Dubliners with this news here today. After the sudden passing of Barney, the band decided to still fulfill all the expectations the loyal fanbase has, and to continue with the 50th anniversary celebrations. The celebrations are adapted to acknowledge Banjo Barney especially. Coming along with the band is Gerry O'Connor. This time, I don't want to say anything about Gerry but what Barney told me six or seven years ago about him: "He's my best pupil ever".
But I should not keep you from reading the new reviews we have for you, telling everything you want to know. We even deliver a "double feature" of two reviews, Nykøbing (April) and Paris (May). I'd like to thank our reporters for doing a work that is anything but easy - after all, these reviews are a labor of love and written by fans, not outsiders.

How do you go back to normality after 5 April? By doing something we normally don't do: Going back in the past and presenting an "old" picture. Robert & Annemarie supplied an image that is too good to be missed - a brilliant and most unique shot from Bielefeld, Germany, taken 6 November 2009. No words needed to enjoy this one! Thanks R & A!

It's a special article that is coming your way today. Enid and Renata penned a report about the Royal Albert Hall appearance back in March. You have to know that this report was finished and ready for release before Barney passed away. We tossed and turned about the publication of it for a while. Eventually, we decided that we publish it as it was written. Enid and Renata added a few words to explain why - in the end it boils down to one fact: Under the premise of delivering new content, reporting about current happenings in the Dubliners world, THIS is the very last time that we will report about the lads including Barney McKenna like we did for the past seven years, the last time we tell you how it is when they take the stage with Banjo Barney - so we did not want to miss anyone that last glimpse at a time we will never see again. Yours truly also begs for your understanding, that under these circumstances, our selection of photographs tends to display one certain member of the band very prominently this - and we repeat: for the last - time.

Peter Heinz of the Austrian Dubs website, www.dubliners.at, put on a few thoughts about his long-time friend of nearly 30 years. Worth while to read, and enriched with a handful of carefully selected images, some of these you won't find everyday. Don't worry about the German image titling, once you click the Barney pic on the front page, you will find a link to an English version!

Irish folk group The Dubliners will go ahead with their planned concert at the National Concert Hall this Friday 13th April as part of the Dublin: One City, One Book celebrations, an initiative of Dublin City Libraries. The event, celebrating James Joyce’s book Dubliners, will now be dedicated to the memory of the late Barney McKenna. McKenna, one of the original members of The Dubliners, passed away last Thursday 5th April and was buried in his ancestral home in Trim, Co. Meath.

We would appreciate if anyone of you not attending the gig would share a moment with us in spirit tonight - for Barney.

Update 18 April 2012:
The Independent reported about the abovementioned night - read it here.Thx, Enid!

It is our sad duty to inform you that Barney passed away today. The bond of friendship between The Dubliners is the deepest and dearest you can imagine on this earth, so we beg for your understanding that we are still too shocked to properly express our feelings or acknowledge what he meant to us and countless of fans. He was a dearest of friends to us and an iconic figure in the world of Irish music but as we said, we are too shocked to tell you anything but the sad news today. All our sympathies are with the family. Barney, may you rest in peace.

The Dubs are featured - and very prominently at that, as you can see in this Irish Times shot - in an Irish supergroup that recently recorded the official Euro 2012 team tune "The Rocky Road to Poland". The single features The Dubliners, The Coronas, Bressie and Damien Dempsey - and the Irish team.

Ian Sadler, producer of the BBC Radio 2 website, and Miles Mendoza let us know that there are several sources to rewatch and relisten video and audio material regarding the Radio 2 Folk Awards and the 50th anniversary of the lads. These links were mentioned elsewhere before, but it is surely a good idea to place these officially here as long as they last: